Guerrero's story is important for Americans and she has an opportunity to use her celebrity (actress in Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin) to speak up for immigration reform in the U.S. Guerrero was born in the States but her parents were undocumented residents from Colombia. When Diane was 14 (she's 28 or 29 now), her parents were arrested and taken to detention facilities. When Diane came home from school, she realized they'd been taken, and she was on her own. Fortunately her father had arranged (via his 1 phone call) for a family friend to take Diane in, but a couple of years later, when the woman's older daughter became pregnant, Diane had to find shelter with another family friend.

Some parts of the book weren't as enjoyable to me (I didn't read it because she's famous--I don't watch TV) because they focused more on Guerrero's acting. But the parts in which she writes honestly about her struggles without parents, in her teen years, and the hard times she had parenting herself, are heartbreaking and meaningful. And she can be considered one of the lucky ones, since she did have stable friends to help her, and she was able to attend college and create a career.

Most children in Guerrero's situation aren't so lucky, and it's a shame that our country benefits from the work of illegal immigrants (doing jobs Americans won't taking, paying into Social Security without being able to use those funds in their own retirement, being taken advantage of by lawyers and others who take their money to help them get a green card and magically disappear) and doesn't protect them and splits families apart. I don't hold with the notion that Guerrero should've followed her parents to Colombia--all 3 of them knew that the U.S. was her best chance of living a good life, even though their separation was heart-breaking. Most of us can't imagine the struggle involved. If this life had been my lot, I would've done everything in my power to give my child a better life--even if I had to live in secret and work terrible jobs. The U.S. needs to set up more realistic, humane laws to help these families--and to protect them from the shysters.